| LIBRARY OF CONGRESS,' 



[FORCE COLLECTION.] 



| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 



DISCOURSE, 



DELIVERED IN DUXBURY, AUGUST 31st, 1838, 



ON OCCASION OF THE BURIAL OF 



SAMUEL ALDEN FRAZER, ESQ. 

' . ' •* 



By JOSIAH MOORE. 



$u6lfs!)etr fc# Request. 







( 1867 



m. 



7-7 



BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY JOSIAH A. STEARNS. 



MDCCOXXXVIII. 



WILLIAM S. DAMRELL, PRINTER, 

No. 9 Comhill, Boston. 



£ 






DISCOURSE. 



MARK THE PERFECT MAN, AND BEHOLD THE UPRIGHT, FOR THE END 
OF THAT MAN Is PEACE.— Psalm 37 : 37. 

We come, my friends, to bury a man, in whose 
death our community has sustained a loss. He was 
not only a devoted husband, a good father, an affec- 
tionate brother ; he was a generous friend, an up- 
right magistrate, an enlightened and faithful citizen, 
an honest man. His burial, then, is an occasion 
on which our sympathies are called into action, not 
by reflected misfortune merely, but by actual partic- 
ipation in the sufferings of those who stood related 
to him by the ties of blood. A character like his 
is a page on the too often worthless record of human 
conduct, which ought not to pass unnoticed. It is 
one of those redeeming passages, which save the 
scroll from being cast away as valueless. Any thing, 
beyond the ordinary notice of the dead, is not ad- 
visable when there is nothing extraordinary to jus- 
tify the distinction. Obituaries too often emanate 
from a desire, on the part of friends, to com memo- 



4 

rate their own regard for the deceased, or to extend 
their sympathy to those who have been afflicted in 
their loss ; and when they are designed simply as a 
tribute of affection, or only amount to this, they 
are productive of no permanent good ; their com- 
monness takes awav all value from the distinction : 
and, in consequence of bringing public notoriety 
within the verge of ordinary character, they rather 
lower the standard of excellence, and lessen the in- 
citement to virtue. Their purpose should be, not 
the gratification of relatives or friends, but the good 
of the community. When they are the faithful 
transcript of character beyond the ordinary caste, 
they serve to make it known, where this is requir- 
ed, and give it additional influence where it is not. 
If we are justified in the use of fictitious narrative 
for the promotion of moral ends, we ought not, for 
a much stronger reason, to be prohibited the em- 
ployment of truth for the same purpose. In doing 
this, we are not exposed to the questionable expedi- 
ency of resorting to the false, for the illustration and 
enforcement of what is right and good ; besides, 
truth has a living power over the mind, which fic- 
tion never can possess without converting it into a 
lie ; nor then for any length of time. The mask 
will be torn off, the vesture will be changed, and 
the chances become great, that truth will lose more 
by lending her robe, than she w r ill gain by the unholy 
alliance. 

There needs, not only the testimony of individual 
sentiment, but the united and concentrated expres- 



sion of that sentiment on the part of the community, 
to give due authority and influence to excellence. 
Before this is done, we may not know how far our 
own estimate is sustained by that of others ; and we 
fail to collect the scattered testimony, and build it 
up into a lasting monument. This unanimity of 
sentiment cannot be better exhibited and expressed, 
than by a general gathering at the burial of those 
whom we honor, and the public commemoration of 
their virtues. The presence of their earthly remains 
adds force and solemnity to the truth, and checks any 
unhallowed disposition to exaggeration or to envy. 

So deserving was he, in whose funeral solemnities 
we have now met to join, of the distinction we would 
confer, that we trust no sentiment of jealousy will 
be fanned into life by the occasion ; and no one be 
found indisposed to unite in the respect which we 
come to testify. Example and circumstance are 
teacher and usher in the school of man ; and so im- 
portant and active is the office of both, that it is 
difficult to say to which belongs precedence. The 
life of our departed friend has been a running com- 
mentary upon human duty ; he has filled the sphere 
in which he was appointed to act ; he has finished the 
work given him to do ; — a sphere, the most impor- 
tant, if not the most extensive ; — a work, the most 
arduous, if not the most honored. It may be easy 
to ascend the summit of fame in the estimation of 
the world, when but one class of virtues or faculties 
is called into exercise, and these stimulated by an 
undeviating motive ; but difficult to attain the same 



eminence, when the straight and narrow way is 
serrated, as it were, with episodes, which are 
constantly calling the thoughts to some collateral 
duty. It may be easy to accomplish a few distin- 
guished deeds, to gain the applause of the world, 
but difficult to pass through life, discharging all its 
humble offices with constancy and fidelity. 

The same is true of character as of conduct. Of 
this we form an imperfect and unjust estimate. 
We reverence, too exclusively, mere intellectual 
power ; — but the intellectual faculties constitute but 
half a man, — and, although he may gain applause by 
their exclusive development, he deserves not the 
name of greatness so richly as he who has called out 
all the noble capacities of his soul in their just rela- 
tive proportion. God gives us the materials, out of 
which we are, as it were, to recreate ourselves in 
the formation of our characters, and he perverts their 
use and builds to folly, who narrows the foundation 
that he may add to the height ; — -we stand most 
firmly, and endure the longest, when we observe 
just proportions. Like the founders of Babel, most 
imagine that heaven is only in the zenith ; but it is 
as broad as the illimitable horizon. 

Though no signal deeds render remarkable the 
life of the subject of this notice, he has lived to the 
best of purposes. Knowing that his time and his 
talents were committed to him as a trust, by him 
whose eye he felt to be ever upon him, it was his 
purpose and his endeavor to use them as not abusing 
them ; and occasion never offered when he could 



not find something to do, of use to himself or to his 
fellow-men. He has lived beyond the assigned term 
of human existence ; yet few would look back upon 
the past with less to regret, or onward to the future, 
with more to hope. Possessed of great bodily 
soundness, fostered by habits of early rising, and 
regular and temperate living, he has been sustained 
through a long period of industry and enterprise, the 
records of which he found, where all like him will 
ever seek them, in the consciousness that his physi- 
cal powers were devoted to the uses for which God 
designed them. He has not outlived their prostra- 
tion. A life of inactivity would have been, to him, 
a life of pain. The angel came when his work was 
finished, and we trust has borne him to his reward 
on high. 

He had a sound mind in a sound body ; — though 
a man of strong feelings, he always kept them in 
abeyance to reason. In consequence, he was, from 
acquired habit, cool and dispassionate in making up 
his judgment ; he seldom, therefore, found himself in 
the wrong. But when such was the case, he did 
not suffer prejudice or self-will to keep down the 
convictions of reason, or pride to usurp the place of 
candor in the confession of error ; — never suffering 
himself to become so identified with any subject, as 
to surrender his position as an honest inquirer after 
truth. A genius he would not have felt himself 
honored in being called ; we give him higher praise 
in saying, that he was a man of strong common 
sense. Had he received the advantages of a public 



8 

education, and devoted himself to the profession for 
which his talents and his tastes best fitted him, he 
might have had a place among the judges or the 
statesmen of the land. We do not allude to this 
circumstance, however, in regret ; regarding as we 
do the sphere that he did fill, with so much credit to 
himself and advantage to others, as among the most 
useful and honorable in society ; and the marks that 
he received of public confidence, are proof that he 
was not unappreciated in it by others. 

In what has been said, there is no design of im- 
plying that he was an uneducated man ; he had done 
much for himself in addition to the early advantages 
that he enjoyed, more than many, possessed of every 
faculty for acquiring knowledge. The most valu- 
able kind of culture consists, not so much in mere 
acquisition, as in the discipline of the mind, calling 
into action its original powers ; — the education of 
thought rather than of language. The study of 
books often serves as a convenient substitute for 
this ; but, when too much use is made of them, they 
weaken the native capacities of the soul ; the know- 
ledge of books is to be used as an aid, not an end ; 
and language as a vesture, not an apology for ideas. 
That man does better for himself and society, who 
is always active in searching for truth in man, in 
nature and events, than he who lives only in the re- 
corded history of the past, and knows only what the 
printed page may have taught him. He may have 
the power of throwing the garb of language over 
borrowed thought ; but, in real practical life, he may 



9 

not be so trustworthy as one who has studied to 
meet the wants of time as it passes, and whose mind 
and thoughts are his own ; who, like our friend, has 
only made reading the pastime, not the occupation 
of his life. When we measure the amount of real 
knowledge possessed by men of the class to whom 
he belonged, we find that it is but little that the 
educated, so called, excel them; their supereminence 
is only that of the spires of a city above the mass of 
substantial masonry beneath and around them. 

The deceased was an honest man ; too honest for 
his worldly interest in this shuffling age, but not too 
honest for his own peace of mind, or the good ex- 
ample of those around him. What treasures does 
the upright man lay up in his own soul, and what a 
measure of interest do they pay him in his declining 
hours! Could those who are commencing life in the 
eager pursuit of wealth, and exposed to all its con- 
comitant evils, be carried forward in vision to the 
period when the gray locks of age gather upon the 
head, and be placed upon a sick and dying bed, with 
their hoarded gains piled up around them, how many 
would exclaim, Let me rather die the death of the 
righteous, and let my last end be like his ! The 
subject of this notice, raised as he was above want, 
it is believed, might have been numbered among 
the wealthy, had he fallen in with the general habits 
of trade that have prevailed of late in the business 
intercourse of mankind ; but he chose rather to pre- 
serve his integrity, and leave to his children the 
richer inheritance of a spotless example. 
2 



10 

The life of the deceased has run parallel with the 
most interesting period of his country's history ; and 
he has been no silent and inactive witness of what 
has been transpiring around him ; the love of liberty 
he inherited from his ancestors, whose names have 
been associated, from the first settlement of these 
shores, with the earnest and successful defenders of 
human rights. His father, with his family, was a 
resident at Boston during the eventful period of the 
breaking out of the Revolution, and among the ear- 
liest and strongest impressions of his youth, were 
his father's sacrifices and devotion to the cause of 
the patriots, and the tragedies that were daily enact- 
ed in the streets of the city. The example set him 
has not been dishonored ; the principles then instilled 
have had an abiding influence ; he has been a true 
lover of his country, a consistent, enlightened repub- 
lican. He regarded it as a responsible duty to study 
and watch over the interests of the constitution and 
the government ; to keep along with the history of 
his times, by giving his attention to the prominent 
questions in agitation ; and he was always at his 
post, as every intelligent and faithful citizen should 
be, to raise his voice in defence, and cast his vote in 
support, of good measures and good men. It is upon 
such men as he has been, that the stability of gov- 
ernment, the good order of society, the prosperity of 
the country depend. Too many are becoming in- 
different to the calls of public duty, resting in wil- 
ling ignorance of the most important and responsible 
questions on which they are required to act. Such 



11 

men are not true patriots, for they are putting in im- 
mediate jeopardy those very privileges and blessings 
under the enjoyment of which they are suffering 
themselves to be lulled to repose. 

It was a maxim, upon which our esteemed fellow- 
citizen acted, that " Order is Heaven's first law." 
This he carried into all his habits. By having 
method in the government of his conduct, and in the 
appropriation of his time, he secured to himself many 
an hour for the enjoyment of retired meditation and 
reading. The morning's sun usually found him with 
his book ; and by giving to reading the spare mo- 
ments of the day and the evening, he had possessed 
himself of much information. Dissipation of time, and 
licentiousness in all its forms, met with his marked 
discountenance ; though liberal and indulgent, within 
the limits of propriety, none were more prompt to 
rebuke any conduct that transgressed the bounds of 
morality, or savored of a spirit of insubordination to 
the wholesome restraints of society and law. 

He felt, to an unusual degree, a paternal interest in 
those who were growing up around him, and coun- 
tenanced, by his presence and his aid, institutions 
designed to promote sound learning, and lead the 
young in the path of duty and true happiness. He 
seemed to find much of his pleasure in promoting 
the benevolent movements of the day. This we at- 
tribute, in part at least, to the fact, that a desire of 
gain never acquired the ascendency over him ; his 
mind was consequently left free from its contracting 
tendencies, and his heart the more devoted to higher 



12 

and more satisfying pursuits. He felt deeply the 
want of a more thorough and enlarged system of ed- 
ucation, and often spoke, in sorrowful regret, of the 
great want of interest, on the part of the young, in 
intellectual pursuits ; — nothing gave him more pain 
than to see them wasting their time in idleness, or 
devoting it to unlawful pleasures. If there be any 
regard to his memory among the rising members of 
the community, towards all of whom he felt as a 
father, they will give heed to those good counsels 
which he so often imparted. 

He was a social man, delighting in improving in- 
tercourse with his fellow-men, enjoying the flow of 
chastened mirth, or, which was more to his taste, 
engaging in the discussion of important subjects re- 
lating to schemes of utility or benevolence. He 
was possessed of great equanimity and habitual 
cheerfulness ; prosperity was met with gratitude, and 
adversity borne with sustained and sober submission. 
He had studied human life as a philosopher, and he 
was prepared for its vicissitudes. We may sum up 
the whole in saying, that he was a good man, in the 
unrestricted sense of the term. His virtues were 
not mere outward manifestation ; they emanated from 
well-defined and established principles. Humble 
in the estimate of himself, he made no boast of su- 
perior sanctity ; he left his life to speak for itself, 
showing his faith by his works. 

Religious gratitude was a ruling sentiment in his 
mind ; he was a lover of nature in its general forms 
of beauty and grandeur, and he saw God in his 



13 

providence and in his works. A sense of the di- 
vine presence he always carried about with him, and 
perhaps we may say, that there was no motive which 
acted on him so strongly, as the impression that 
the eye of God was ever upon him. A feeling of 
dependence and accountability accompanied this im- 
pression, and became the foundation of that submis- 
sive, thankful mind, which neither adversity nor 
prosperity ever overcame. In his religious views he 
was influenced by no narrow prejudice or bigotry ; 
he respected sincerity and purity of heart and life 
wherever he discovered them, and met the faithful 
and practical Christian of any denomination with 
frank and open-hearted fellowship. His own relig- 
ious experience was of no hothouse growth ; it was 
simple and natural ; the power rather than the form 
of godliness. He was a firm believer in the truth 
of Christianity, and drew, as we believe, from the 
teachings and example of Christ, the rules by which 
he designed to govern his life. While he regarded 
the profession without the substance of religion as 
of little worth, he w T as nevertheless habitually, and 
from principle, observant of its outward forms and 
institutions. His constant attendance on the wor- 
ship of God in his temple was proverbial ; and there 
is no place where we shall more miss him, than in 
his accustomed seat in the house where we are now 
convened. He came here, not for novelty, not for 
the sake of mere appearance, but for his own good, 
and the good of others. How often has he made 
his way to the altar, through storm and tempest, 
when there was scarce else to bear witness to his 



14 

presence but the bare walls of the temple. Younger 
limbs were too feeble to reach the place; younger 
courage too irresolute to brave the elements, or, 
what we fear is more true, younger principle was 
too weak to follow in his steps. He was a man who 
promoted truth in his own place ; he went not to 
seek it elsewhere, when the preacher or his doctrines 
were not in accordance with his wishes or senti- 
ments. Among the first to understand and appre- 
ciate sound doctrine, he would be among the last to 
disturb the quiet of a parish when he felt that he did 
not hear it. He was too much of a practical Chris- 
tian, to be over-sensitive with regard to those nice 
shades and distinctions, so much insisted on by the 
mere speculative believer. 

We would not forget his disinterested benevolence, 
his self-sacrificing disposition; he was ever more con- 
siderate for others than for himself, obliging even to 
the extent of much inconvenience to himself; char- 
itable to those whose wants made them deserving 
objects of commiseration ; kind to all in sickness and 
affliction, not only in extending to them his sympa- 
thy, but in sending all the little comforts within his 
command. His philanthropy was not merely a 
principle ; it was a feeling inwrought into his very 
life and character. His benevolence sprang from 
the deep places of his soul in spontaneous exube- 
rance ; every call for charity, forgiveness, sympathy, 
love, found a ready response in his affections. 

Of his conjugal, paternal and brotherly feelings, 
his interest in his connections and immediate family, 
there is scarce occasion to speak. We have evi- 



15 

dence of their strength and influence in the respect 
that is paid to his remains ; we have had it in the 
devotion with which his sick and dying bed has 
been attended ; and we trust that the cheerful, grate- 
ful feelings with which that devotion was received 
and acknowledged, and the good counsels with 
which it was repaid, will never be forgotten. The 
most enduring and the most acceptable monument 
that the members of his family can build to his 
memory will be, to sustain in themselves that char- 
acter which was the object of his solicitude, and of 
which he has set them so worthy an example. They 
have our sympathy in their great loss ; for we feel 
that the town has been deprived of a father. 

During the season of his decline, he manifested far 
more interest for others than for himself. On his 
own account he was willing, nay desirous, to depart ; 
and submitted with great patience to all his suffer- 
ings. He was pained to witness the symptoms of 
decay and death, only when he witnessed the grief 
that they caused to those to whom he had been long 
and ardeutly attached. While we mingle our sor- 
rows with those, who in his death have been de- 
prived of the staff on which they have rested, we 
would hope that that Christian faith and fortitude, 
on which he depended, may be found sufficient for 
their support, until God shall send the summons for 
them to meet him in the world of spirits. Of that 
world he had no doubt ; he felt that the present is 
incomplete without the future. This belief strength- 
ened and cheered him in the prospect before him. 



16 

Death seemed deprived of all terror ; it was hailed 
rather as an angel of mercy, come to remove him, 
when his measure was full, his work finished, and 
his presence on earth no longer required. 

It is seldom that the close of life is met with equal 
fortitude and magnanimity. He died as he had lived, 
a Christian philosopher, resigned to the will of God, 
and satisfied that his will should be done. He re- 
quires no further service at our hands, but to commit 
his remains with respect to the tomb. But though 
dead, may he yet long speak to us ! May we cher- 
ish and imitate his virtues ; may we be preparing 
ourselves, by every good word and work, for that 
support, in the last hours of life, which so firmly sus- 
tained him ! Would the young be useful in life, 
honored in death, and blessed in immortality ; let 
them study, like him, to be faithful citizens, consist- 
ent Christians, honest men. Would those, upon 
whom devolve the responsible duties and offices of 
society, escape unscathed from temptation ; like him, 
let them hold fast their integrity. Would the aged 
meet death with firmness ; like him, let them con- 
template it in its advances, by setting their houses 
in order, and meet it, when it comes, with resignation. 






DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED IN DUXBURY, AUGUST 31st, 1838, 



ON OCCASION OF THE BURIAL OF 



SAMUEL ALDEN FRAZER, ESQ. 



By JOSIAH MOORE 



43u!)Us!)etr bv Request. 



BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY JOSIAH A. STEARNS. 

MDCCCXXXVIII. 



